1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerning culture system to culture cells, culture apparatus, culture vessel box, and air cleaning method. In particular, this is the contents about sterilely connect the processing chamber to the storing chamber to store processing objects in and those which enable to take out the object sterilely after processing.
2. Background Technology
Heretofore, the cell culture operation was done by skilled specialists in a clean room excluding bacteria as possible. Therefore, when culturing a lot of cells toward industrialization, they may arise increase of workers' loads, time and cost which are necessary for education and training of workers, artificial mistakes and mistaking samples, and contamination by those who hold bacteria. Then, we will need much costs for those measures. It becomes a large wall in industrialization.
Then, from the idea that automation of a culture progress can solve these problems, JP Patent Publication No. 2002-262856A discloses an example of an automatic cell culture. In the cell culture apparatus described in JP Patent Publication No. 2002-262856A, an apparatus to exchange culture medium automatically is equipped with an incubator, a robot exchanging culture medium, and a management computer. That takes out a cell culture tray from the inside of the incubator with a transfer robot, inserts new liquid medium with the needle after discharges old liquid medium in the culture tray with a needle, and stocks the culture tray into the incubator.
In addition, in a series of the progress culturing cells with an automatic apparatus, what is supplied into a clean interior of the culture apparatus from the external are mainly cells and culture vessels. It is necessary to supply one or more culture vessels to culture cells inside the culture apparatus into the interior of the culture apparatus with being kept the clean environment. Techniques related to this one are widely developed in delivery of wafers in semiconductor production, and it is thought the method of preventing dust from the external by double doors or air flow. For example, it is disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. 2001-39537A.
Nevertheless, techniques disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. 2002-262856A and JP Patent Publication No. 2001-39537A do not provide the best measure for solving important issues in cell culture. Thus, when culturing a cell, the contamination of cultured cells by dust, bacteria, and viruses which exist inside the air or with a human body poses a severest issue. So, it is the most important to control their quality. Therefore, we must carry out all steps generally called cell culture such as cell extraction, processing, and production under aseptic conditions, manipulate never to enter contaminants, and record its history.
For performing culture and processing of cells, it is necessary that the skillful technician who wears dustproof clothing works in the CPC (Cell Processing Center) which is certified in GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and is the large-scale culture institution given sterilization treatment in the whole facility. In industrialization, this has been a serious obstruction to productivity and cost. Then, the development of the automatic culture apparatus is demanded to develop the automatic culture apparatus which performs quality maintenance by performing the operation of the level equalled to a skilled technician in the environment where those who are the largest pollution sources are eliminated in processes as much as possible with automation technology, and performs cell culture with a culture vessel in high cleanliness.
In an interior of the culture apparatus, it is possible to shut off the interior from the external except supply of cells and culture vessels to keep the internal state clean, by providing an ultraviolet lamp as same as a clean bench and continuing to supply clean air through a HEPA filter and so on.
Then, it is necessary to put the culture vessel, which contacts the cells from the external in the culture apparatus with maintaining the cleanest state so that dust and bacteria may never enter into the interior. Moreover, it is necessary to take out the cells cultured inside the culture apparatus with maintaining the clean state inside the culture apparatus, then, to lessen the sharp temperature change, and to move it to an operating room or a processing facility keeping the same state.
The present invention was made in view of such the present circumstances, and provides the apparatus which can connect culture vessel and the interior of culture apparatus sterilely, can take out the sterile culture vessel after culturing the cells, and can achieve reduction of environmental stress such as temperature.